What the Spurs, Knicks said after Wednesday’s game

Here, thanks to the works of those who labor diligently for the Spurs media services office, is a sampling of the comments from both locker rooms after the Spurs’ 118-105 victory over New York Wednesday night.

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich:

(When asked about the effort of the Spurs tonight…)“I really liked the attitude of the whole group. I thought that everybody was very focused and I thought they played with a veracity compared to the first three games after the break. I thought that a lot of minutes in the first three games we looked like we were in cruise control and it has taken us too long to get that back. Hopefully we have that back. I don’t know, we’ll see in the next few games if we’re being consistent. I thought there was a greater focus in more of the players, team-wise especially.”

(When asked if Tony Parker was the ringleader tonight…)
“Tony (Parker) has been our ringleader all year long. He’s been tough all year long. He’s having a great year.”

(When asked the game play of Richard Jefferson tonight…)
“I was really impressed with Richard’s (Jefferson) game. I thought his defense was excellent. He contested everything. He got a couple of huge rebounds for us in the first half that let us get out and go. It’s nice to see somebody doing that when the offense isn’t working for him. I think that’s a credit to him and that’s what we are looking for.”

(When asked what was going through his mind when he saw T.J. Ford lying on the court…)
“I was scared to death. When he (T.J. Ford) was not moving at all you can’t help but think the worst, considering his past. It was really nice to know it was just a stinger. I think they x-rayed it and it was negative and they called it a stinger. We dodged a bullet, well we don’t matter, he dodged a bullet and that’s good.”

Spurs guard Manu Ginobili:

(On if he’s getting back to his normal physical conditioning)
“Yeah, I just need a little bit more time physically and not only conditionally. Otherwise, I felt pretty good. I’m not strong enough as my first step isn’t as quick. But I felt good, I just need more time.”

(On his reaction to TJ Ford going down in the first half…)
“At first, I didn’t know what happened. When he wasn’t getting up and after we saw the replay on how he got hit from behind, we got a little worried because of his previous history with neck problems. But then when we came back here into the locker room we saw him walking around, so we felt better. At the moment it was very worrying.”

(On if Tony Parker is playing at the top level that he has seen him)
“Yeah, probably. He has been so steady and for so many games. Of course I see him playing great for a few games then I see him take a couple of games off. Now he’s playing unbelievable and consistently. He’s getting us where we want to be and providing us with things down the stretch, especially in tough games. Like I said before, he is owning the team as he knows that we all need him and trust him as he is responding.”

(On if the team was more focused tonight?)
“Yeah I think we were more into it in this game. We knew that we needed it since we lost two out of three at home. This game was an important one. We didn’t want this game to get away as we played a good overall performance. We had a bad moment whether at the end of the 3rd quarter or the beginning of the fourth, but overall I thought it was a good game.”

Spurs guard Tony Parker:

(On his performance tonight…)
“I thought we played pretty well. I thought we were more focused as last game we had a lot of mental mistakes. Tonight we wanted to make a conscious effort to play better at home. In the first three games after the all-star break, two of them we didn’t play very well. We didn’t want to waste that as we spent a lot of energy to play well on the road as we went 8-1. So we want to take care of home court and that’s what we did tonight.”

(On his thoughts of whether the Knicks missed the presence of Chandler tonight…)
“Tyson is one of the best defenders in our league and he’s a key guy on their team defensively. I tried to take advantage of that as I tried to go hard at the basket and be aggressive.”

(On his thoughts of TJ Ford going down)
“It was very scary knowing his history. It a very scary moment but I am happy that he is fine and that he’ll be ok.”

New York Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni:

(How much of tonight was because you don’t have guys like (Tyson) Chandler and (Jared) Jeffries out there?
“They anchor our defense. That’s why we improved from last year to this year because of Tyson Chandler and Jared (Jeffries) being in there. I thought Josh (Harrellson) did a pretty good job, but obviously some of the offensive rebounds and them getting right to the basket just killed us.”

(What were the Spurs doing to run the pick and roll so perfectly?)
“It was Tony Parker. Tony Parker is one of the best in the league and they have (Tim) Duncan. We didn’t have our guys that maybe can slow it up a little bit, but they’re really good at it. They have shooters, they spread the floor, and they’re one of the better offensive teams in the league. They do a great job moving the ball.”

(Did you have any concerns with the effort overall on the defensive end?)
“No, I thought we started off sluggish. We did pick it up at different spurts. Give them credit, they hit some hard shots and it kind of took our will. Our guys kept battling, kept playing hard, and we saw some things that maybe we can build upon and hopefully get better on in the next game.”

(What did you see from Carmelo (Anthony) tonight?)
“He was more determined. I told him just go ahead and play and attack. I thought he did that tonight. Again, he will be there.”

(How much did you guys do to get (Carmelo) going?
“I really think that the offense is predicated on people having energy and the ball moving around. If you have selfishness then you’re in trouble, but if everyone is moving the ball we will find people and we will find him. He needs to be aggressive like everyone else and then we’ll make adjustments. The offense should never be a problem.”

New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin:

(On how the Spurs played tonight…)
“They run everything with speed. They spread us out and picked us apart. They were very patient on offense and they were a tough team to guard.”

(On Parker’s play and speed…)
“When you are talking about quickness, he is up there with a select few. Seeing it live definitely made us adjust and we need to work better on angles and building a wall so he can’t just go wherever he wants. We need to communicate with our bigs to stop his penetration.”

(On the Spurs defense…)
“They played solid. They tried to push us out and shoot contested mid-range jump shots. They did a good job defensively and withstood our runs.”

New York Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire:

(On the loss tonight…)
“The Spurs executed their game plan and we did not execute our game plan. The Spurs came out very fresh. They had opportunities when we were in front of them but our legs seemed a little heavy. They came out with a lot of energy and they took advantage of it. “

(On never being able to come back after an early deficit…)
“We fought back. When you are down by 17, it takes so much more energy to fight back and to try to win the game, it’s almost impossible. We need to find a way to maintain for the entire game.”

(On the Knicks offense…)
“Tonight, we played pretty well offensively. We did a better job. We scored enough points to get the win out there, but just could not get enough stops.”